Chapter 588 Harare Tobacco Factory
Ernst, the Crown Prince, is busy finishing up government work at the end of the year, while Constantine, His Majesty the King of East Africa, has recently gone out to inspect work after playing with his grandson, or to relax.
As he gets older, he prefers to go out. As for handling troublesome matters such as government affairs, it is better for his son to do it. Of course, the improvement of transportation conditions in East Africa provides Constantine with the opportunity to go out. In the past, Constantine could only travel around the Central Province, but now he can go to farther places.
For example, this time, he took a special car along the East African Central Railway and came directly to Harare, a new city in East Africa.
Harare, the capital of Matabele Province, is located near 18 degrees south latitude, while most cities in East Africa are in the southern hemisphere.
It is summer in the southern hemisphere now, but the temperature in Harare is only 23 degrees and the weather is cloudy, which is similar to the first town, so there is no need to worry about weather and temperature changes.
Therefore, East Africa is a very suitable place for retirement. There is no scorching heat in summer and no severe cold in winter. It is like spring all year round. Of course, the premise is that the infrastructure conditions are perfect, otherwise it will be very inconvenient for elderly people like Constantine.
In the past, Harare was a world-renowned summer resort, a title shared by many East African cities.
"At present, our city of Harare has become the largest domestic tobacco distribution market in East Africa. The tobacco factory is one of the pillar industries in Harare. The daily tobacco trading volume is more than 1,000 tons. In the country, only Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, two open ports, can compare with Harare.
However, Mombasa and Dar es Salaam focus on the international market, while Harare can represent both the domestic tobacco consumption level and the international popularity of East African tobacco. This year, we have opened up more than 10,000 acres of new tobacco fields in Harare, but the demand still cannot meet the supply. "The director of the Harare Tobacco Factory enthusiastically introduced the prospects of the tobacco industry in Harare to Constantine.
“Harare tobacco has become somewhat famous now, especially in the German region. I heard that Matabele tobacco has been pursuing a high-end route from the very beginning. Now many cigarettes in the German region add Matabele tobacco leaves to enhance the aromatic substances and increase the flavor and taste.” Constantine said insightfully.
The representative of Matabele tobacco is the "Golden Leaf", which was originally a high-end cigarette aimed at the German market, and then transferred from Germany to Eastern Europe, or sent from East Africa to the Far East.
Germany turned to the Eastern European route by taking advantage of the admiration of Western European industrial powers for these semi-industrialized or agricultural countries. In addition, the quality of East African tobacco itself was excellent, so it was very popular.
The reason for exporting to the Far East is that it has the world's largest independent market besides Britain and the United States. Britain, with its large colonies, boycotted East African products, and the United States itself is a major tobacco country. The Caribbean countries and Latin America to the south are also rich in tobacco.
Therefore, the market in East Africa has always been divided into five major parts: Germany, Eastern Europe, Arab regions, the Far East and others.
The trade volume with the Far East and East Africa is quite good, but tobacco is not included in this category, because the Far East itself also has areas suitable for tobacco cultivation, and the Huaihai Trading Zone is among them.
The biggest contributors to East Africa's economy are actually Eastern Europe and Arab countries, and East African products are highly competitive in these countries.
The first is that Eastern European countries are located at high latitudes and lack tropical cash crops, while East Africa is the closest tropical cash crop producing area to Eastern Europe. A large part of East Africa's fruits, vegetables and cash crops are consumed by Eastern European countries, led by Tsarist Russia.
Although Germany is a major seller of agricultural products in East Africa, its exports to East Africa are also considerable, especially industrial products and equipment.
As for Tsarist Russia, which had the highest level of industrialization in Eastern Europe, its industrial products were actually only slightly stronger than those of East Africa in terms of variety. However, their geographical location created a great demand for tropical cash crops, so East Africa's exports to Tsarist Russia were far greater than its imports.
Take bananas for example. Somalia is the closest banana producing area to Eastern European countries, so importing from East Africa is almost the only option.
Although Somalia has an arid climate, its area is large enough, and with the irrigation of the Juba River and the Shabelle River, the banana production is considerable and can supply the European market in large quantities. It already has the strength to compete with the Caribbean island countries.
As for the Arab countries, East Africa is not only close to them, but they also enjoy "equal" treatment from East Africa, just like Latin American countries now think that the United States is very "just, free, and democratic". Now the United States is a "good guy" fighting for freedom in the Americas and fighting against big villains such as Britain and France. In the eyes of Arab countries, East Africa is also like this. This is really ironic.
Moreover, the environment in Arab countries is already relatively harsh, with almost everything lacking, and now oil has not been discovered, so cheap East African products are warmly welcomed in the Arab region.
Therefore, in addition to being markets for East African agricultural products, Arab countries and the Far East Empire are also important markets for East Africa's industrial products.
The same is true for tobacco. East Africa is the closest tobacco producing area to them. Large quantity, high quality and low price are the characteristics of East African tobacco.
Moreover, the tobacco exported from East Africa, packaged by the Hexingen Tobacco Company, looks very high-end and has a unique industrial elegance, so it is very popular.
This era is different from later generations. Everyone is particularly obsessed with industrial products. Being able to use industrial products is a symbol of high-quality life, including food.
The director of the Harare Tobacco Factory responded to Constantine: "That's right, Your Majesty. After several years of cultivation, our Harare tobacco has not only been guaranteed in quality, but we are also researching new varieties to further increase tobacco production while ensuring tobacco quality."
"Your factory looks quite large. This is my first time working with a tobacco factory," Constantine said.
The director of the Harare Tobacco Factory said proudly: "Your Majesty, our factory was completely designed by architects and tobacco process designers hired by the Hexingen Tobacco Company from Europe. Therefore, the factory building looks very elegant and the working environment is very comfortable. Every machine or room is scientifically and rationally laid out to achieve the optimal solution, so that workers can achieve the highest efficiency in an orderly manner, which greatly improves the output of our Harare Tobacco Factory."
He walked to the track and said, "Our raw materials are stacked by workers, then run by machines and enter the next process. The entire factory is clean and tidy, and everyone performs their duties and works according to the process. In such an atmosphere, more than 800 people are in order and not chaotic. This is inseparable from the fact that our factory has been following the arrangements of experts from the beginning."
"Of course, we also encounter some practical problems. For example, the design of our factory was a bit conservative at the beginning, which has caused some tension now. So we are adding new equipment, which means we have to open up new workshops, which will disrupt the original structure. In addition, European technology is iterating very quickly, and we don’t know how many years it will take for our equipment to lag behind again."
This worry is somewhat unnecessary, because the Hechingen Tobacco Company in the tobacco industry is originally a monopoly group. It holds most of the say in German, East African and Eastern European tobacco, and also controls upstream technology.
Even if tobacco production equipment is updated in the future, it will not affect the Heixinggen Tobacco Company. It can use various means to maintain its oligopoly position in the industry and maintain its technological advantages.
As the boss, Ernst would definitely not allow the Hechingen Tobacco Company to hold East Africa back technically.
It sounds strange, but there is indeed room for maneuver because the Harare Tobacco Factory is a state-owned enterprise, while the Hexingen Tobacco Company is a private enterprise. The Harare Tobacco Factory is responsible for the production end, while the Hexingen Tobacco Company is responsible for research and development and sales.
So the two are in a cooperative relationship, but the initiative is in the hands of the Hexingen Tobacco Company, and the Harare Tobacco Factory is only responsible for the processing area on the production side. For example, tobacco planting is under the jurisdiction of the agricultural department.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
